To test the hypotheses, entrepreneurs who
possessed a given pattern were compared, as to their subsequent
success, with other entrepreneurs in the sample who had no
pattern score high enough to exceed the cutting points. Thus,
entrepreneurs with and without the specified pattern served as
criterion groups. Understand, however, that those who possessed a
given pattern, and thus could be identified as of a particular
type, often possessed other strong patterns as well. Thus, the
differences observed cannot be attributed entirely to the
particular pattern noted.

Table 2 presents the results. All four of the
personality patterns are associated with success levels which far
exceed those for the entrepreneurs without any strong pattern.
The results for the complex entrepreneur measures, however
defined, are equally convincing. There can be no doubt that
personality factors are associated with subsequent
entrepreneurial success and that the four patterns hypothesized
operate in this manner.

Several other points should be noted. Of the 11
entrepreneurs with little evidence of success who had no strong
pattern, 8 were still with their firms but barely surviving;
leaving entrepreneurship for other endeavors was more
characteristic outside this group. Recession effects were also
more evident among the entrepreneurs with no strong pattern, not
a surprising finding. But they were also more evident among the
empathic supersalespeople. Apparently this type of entrepreneur
is not only different from the others, but more vulnerable to
economic downturns as well.

Table 3 presents the evidence on the
relationship between the number of strong personality patterns
possessed and subsequent success. The data clearly support the
hypothesis. The figures in the column farthest to the right show
a steady progression with those who have no strong pattern having
0 percent of their members in the "Substantial Evidence of
Entrepreneurial Success" category and those who possess
three (or in one case four) strong patterns having 78 percent of
their members in that category.

The research provides substantial support for
the conclusion that personality patterns in an entrepreneur exert
a dominant influence on the subsequent success of the
entrepreneurs venture, that four types of personalities
operate in this manner, and that possessing a greater number of
these patterns contributes to a greater likelihood of success.

Experience in working with entrepreneurs, and
with the four-way personality-based model, indicates that each
type must follow a particular career route that fits the type in
order to reap the benefits inherent in the particular kind of
entrepreneurial talent. People must actualize their specific
potential, or potentials in the case of complex entrepreneurs.

For personal achievers this means investing a
great deal of energy in the business, constantly putting out
fires and dealing with crises, wearing many hats depending on
which crisis is paramount at the moment, and trying to be good at
everything.

For empathic supersalespeople the appropriate
route is to spend as much time as possible selling, while getting
someone else to handle internal administration and management.

For real managers the appropriate route is to
manage a business into major growth, serving as ones own
general manager. To do this people need to find or start a
business large enough to require their special managerial
talents.

For expert idea generators the appropriate
route is to invent new products, find new niches, develop new
processes, and generally establish a way to outthink the
competition. These people need to innovate, think their way
through situations, and become visionaries for their firms.

There is a need for professionals who can
provide valid career guidance based on the four-way typology,
helping people to follow an appropriate route and to avoid
diverting their energies to activities for which they have no
talent. This matter of defining career routes and focusing
energies appropriately is considered at length in a forthcoming
book on the four routes to entrepreneurial success (Miner, 1996).